


Being in love

by artistic18



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 09:29:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13315320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artistic18/pseuds/artistic18
Summary: Garfield wants to know what it’s like to be in love and Raven gives him the answer.





	Being in love

**Author's Note:**

> Hello~ I looked at an old story I wrote about 5 years ago and used it as a base for this one (because I love this pairing to bits and want to have more fics for them). Since it was for a totally different fandom, I couldn't really think of how to make this as canon compliant as I normally would, but I'm hoping it's still enjoyable to read regardless. I haven't written in a while but when I finished this I felt it was a short, cute little story that I wanted to share so here it is!

“What do you think it’s like to be in love?”

Raven paused in her reading to shot her housemate that was standing at her door a surprised look. Despite her frequent demands for privacy and the fact that he literally had his own room one door down, Garfield Logan always seemed to end up in her room, pestering her about one thing or another. Locking him out was no longer a viable option after ‘the incident’ so she’d decided it’d be easiest to just ignore him. Occasionally, however, he would surprise her with something that she _didn’t_ find to be a complete waste of her time, and this was proving to be one of those instances.

“That’s an odd question, coming from you,” Raven stated apprehensively, giving Garfield her full attention after placing a bookmark between the pages of her book and setting it gently in her lap.

He flashed her a nervous smile, his hand placed gingerly at the nape of his neck. “I know, it’s just…I’m not really too sure and you’re so smart I thought you’d probably know the answer.”

Ignoring the sudden redness that flooded her cheeks, she quickly thought over a good response to his question.

“Love is…indescribable, really,” she stated after a moment or so, already moving on from the conversation as she reached for her book.

Garfield scrunched up his nose in distaste, his brow furrowing as he crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. “You’ve gotta give me more than that, Rae.”

Raven sat her book back down with a heavy sigh and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. “Think of everything you feel during a crush, then magnify it by forty and then burn all that to the ground.”  

With one glance at Garfield’s unimpressed expression, she knew she was going to have to come up with a better answer. She closed her eyes and racked her brain for something they would _both_ find sufficient.

 “Not everyone experiences love the same way. For some people it’s the best thing they’ve ever felt. For others it’s the exact opposite,” she began, reopening her eyes and locking gazes with the puzzled young man standing by her door. “But for me, it’s wanting the best for someone even if it’s not the best for you. It’s getting wanting to fix things every time you get mad because you know in your heart you don’t want it to break you apart. It’s learning about someone and all their flaws and quirks and deciding you still want to stick around. It’s when you leave yourself vulnerable for them to make or break you as you are. And above all else, it’s when you do all of that regardless of your feelings being reciprocated.”

“Love sounds…scary,” Garfield muttered bitterly, breaking eye contact to send an intense glare towards the ground.

Raven hummed in agreement, just about to reach for her book again when a thought suddenly occurred to her. “Do you think you’re in love with someone?”

Garfield looked up from the ground and puffed out his cheeks, letting the air blow out slowly. “Not sure yet but I’ll keep you posted.”

The question of _“With who?”_ was at the tip of her tongue, but Raven was never one to pry; her reward was her much coveted silence as Garfield quietly took his leave.

 

 

The next month or so passed with Garfield almost never being around anymore. It seemed like he only ever came home to go to sleep, though he still went out of his way to at least tell her hi and by and sometimes strike up the briefest of conversations with her if the circumstances were right.

They were never really together for whole days at a time due to obligations they had to one thing or another, but they usually still managed to spend a decent amount of time together. Back when they were teens, Garfield had gone out of his way to get to know her so they could get along better, so they’d ended up spending a lot of time together much to Raven’s chagrin back then. The decisions they’d made throughout the years had eventually led to them sharing a house together, and even then they were in each other’s company often enough.

It was almost disorienting having so much time to herself, and Raven couldn’t help but idly wonder if whatever he was up to had anything to do with their little talk a while back.

 

 

“Long time no see, Raven.”

Terra greeted Raven wearing a warm smile and Garfield’s arm around her waist. He wore a proud grin and squeezed her a bit every few seconds; it was obvious how much he adored her.

It quickly occurred to Raven that this must have been what he’d been up to these pass few months: while she’d had her nose buried in books, he’d been off rekindling a romance with his notorious old flame.

“Long time no see,” she replied flatly; she’d never really cared much for Terra.

 

 

As Terra started showing up around the house a lot more and as time went on, Raven was starting to be able to say that she was genuinely happy for Garfield. She still didn’t particularly care for Terra and probably never would, but she could put up with it as long as Garfield was happy, which he so obviously was.

“Do you think you know what love feels like now?” she’d asked him out of curiosity one night after Terra had left. Much to her surprise, Garfield’s answer wasn’t immediate.

In fact, she’d never even gotten one.

 

 

More time went on and Raven began to see less of Terra and more of Garfield. It would have been a nice change if not for the fact that Garfield seemed to look more and more withdrawn every she saw him. She wasn’t even surprised the day he’d come home and declared that the two of them had broken up. Not being an expert in such things, she eventually made the decision to confide in a mutual friend of theirs, Victor, who had all but bounded through the door with a seemingly endless supply of food and alcohol the very next day. Garfield hadn’t been very receptive to it all at first, but he’d definitely gotten more comfortable by the end of the night with the help of the alcohol. Things were said and done that were unfortunately not forgotten the next day, though they all took an oath to never mention any of it ever again.

That night had broken through the toughest parts of Garfield’s emotional barriers, however, and soon he’d begun spending time with Raven like never before. In attempt to continue to make him feel better after his breakup, she agreed to do things with him that she normally wouldn’t like play video games or watch certain types of movies.

There may have been a few times where their legs accidently touched with neither of them moving away when they sat on Garfield’s bed playing video games, or where Raven’s head somehow ended up leaning against Garfield’s shoulder for an entire movie, but if he wasn’t going to bring it up, neither was she.

Obviously it couldn’t have been too much of a problem for him though because he’d even offered to do some of the things she liked in return, like listening to poetry readings and visiting antique shops.

And maybe there were times where they chose seats that just happened to be right next to each other even if there were other ones available at the poetry readings, or where Garfield would end up pressing against her in order to reach something around her that was on a shelf at the antique shop, but neither one of them planned to bring it up—they never had in the past whenever these sorts of things happened, so there was no reason to start now.

 

 

“It’s funny; I was so upset about my breakup with Terra, but now looking back at it, I’m realizing that what I missed wasn’t even her, it was what we’d had,” Garfield revealed lazily, picking up his cup and taking a swig from his straw. He sat it back down with a plop and leaned back in his seat, his arms bent with his hands behind his head as his foot pressed against the leg of the table, rocking him back and forth. “I was hoping if we got back together it could be like it used to be, but clearly there’s a reason things didn’t work out the first time.”

“I guess me being your rebound helped a lot, huh?” Raven answered back teasingly, raising an eyebrow as Garfield dramatically fell half-way out of his seat and then scrambled to correct himself. Some other people in the food court were staring at them now, one teenager holding up his phone like he was recording the whole thing. The thought that Garfield’s little fall may’ve ended up as a trending video later had her chuckling lightly.

“You have a really nice laugh, you know?” Garfield pointed out with a silly grin, startling Raven out of her inner musings. She simply rolled her eyes in response but there was still a small yet unmistakable smile on her face.

Garfield then used one hand to prop up his chin as he leaned closer to where Raven was across the table. “How was it for you when you were in love?”

“What makes you think I ever was?” she responded warily, now very much on guard.

Garfield just shrugged, not moving from his spot at the table. “The way you talked about it sounded like it came from experience.”

“…It was wonderful but horrible,” Raven confessed, her eyes downcast.

“Like everything you feel during a crush but magnified by forty and burnt down to the ground?” Garfield asked with an impish little grin that had Raven snorting in amusement.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Was that the only time you’ve ever been in love?”

Raven opened her mouth to reply but then stopped, a small frown appearing on her face.

Garfield raised an eyebrow at her. “Something on your mind?”

Shaking her head, Raven offered him an almost wistful smile. “I’m not sure.”

Garfield tilted his head slightly in confusion. “Not sure if there’s something on your mind? Or the other thing?”

“Both.”

“Ooh la la! Do tell, Rae Rae!” Garfield then proceeded to obnoxiously scoot his chair around the table towards her bit by bit, the legs of it grating along the floor with annoying screeching sounds. “Are you in love with someone now?”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Raven said while shooting him a displeased look.

“So it’s a secret, huh? In that case, how about we do a little trade: a secret for a secret.” Without even waiting for a response, Garfield carried on. “I think I know what being in love is like now. Best part is, I think she loves me back.”

“Is that so…” Raven trailed off with feigned disinterest, wincing when her voice cracked slightly as she spoke.

“Mhmm,” Garfield said with a happy grin, his body moving closer to hers so he could sling an arm around her shoulders. “Now it’s your turn to share.”

“…There _is_ someone I’m interested in…” she revealed stiffly, averting her gaze to anywhere but Garfield.

“Don’t just leave me hanging like that! Who is it?” he whined with a small pout.

She crossed her arms over her chest indignantly, still refusing to look at him. “It’s not like you told me who you like either!”

“That’s true,” Garfield conceded easily with a nod. “Okay, how about this: if I tell you who it is, you have to give me a kiss.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would you want a kiss from _me_?” Raven snapped, ignoring the way her heart fluttered a bit. Garfield just shot her a mischievous little grin and leaned a bit closer.

“Oh I dunno, I just thought that was what people who _loved_ each other did.”

“Skipping a few steps there, aren’t we? What even makes you think that?” Raven stalled, her eyes looking everywhere but at him.

Garfield just shrugged, looking completely unfazed. “What’s the point of going through the tutorial if you already know what’s up?”

“Where did you pull that line from, a cracker jack box?” Raven shot back mockingly, but Garfield still didn’t look thrown off in the slightest.

“There’s no shame in wanting to kiss me, Raven.”

Eyes blown wide in embarrassment, Raven could barely think of anything coherent to say. “W-what makes you--! Why would you think _I_ \--!”

“More like, why _wouldn’t_ you?” Garfield questioned cockily, wiggling his eyebrows at her. Any snarky remark she’d been about to make promptly caught in her throat when Garfield’s face started moving in even closer, his head tilting slightly to the side. She found herself closing her eyes, her heart beating wildly in her chest as she awaited his next move. She blinked open her eyes in surprised when instead of feeling his lips against hers, she felt them press lightly against the tip of her nose.

He pulled away sheepishly, his pointer finger scratching nervously at his cheek. Chuckling uneasily, he focused his gaze on one of the food vendors. “…You _do_ love me, right?”

“After all that, only _now_ do you decide that it’s an appropriate time to ask?” Raven snapped yet again, still looking flustered by the exchange.

“Um…yeah…?” Garfield offered with a still sheepish tone. Raven just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“You’re a hopeless idiot, Garfield Logan. But I guess you’re _my_ hopeless idiot…” she stated softly, her eyes alight with fondness. Garfield’s face immediately brightened, all of his previous uncertainty disintegrating.

“In that case…” He wrapped an arm around Raven’s shoulders to pull her closer yet again. He licked his lips, his eyes darting down to her lips as he slowly leaned in for a second time.  “How about we celebrate with a _real_ kiss?”

Instead of her lips, his lips were met with Raven’s hand as she held it up in front of his face. “Slow down, lover boy. Timing is everything,” Raven stated in an unimpressed tone, though her expression was one of pure amusement. She stood up, gesturing for him to do the same. “Let’s just head back, okay? I think we’ve had enough excitement here for one day.”

“Whatever you say, babe—” Noticing Raven’s piercing glare, he immediately retracted and held his hands up in surrender. “Okay, no babe, I got it.”

Smiling, Raven unexpectedly leaned in and pressed a kiss to Garfield’s lips that left him dazed when she pulled away. “Good.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed~! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know!


End file.
